What to watch: The Mets have a one-game stop in Pittsburgh for a make up game before they head to Philly. The Pirates have won two of their last three series’, so don’t take them too lightly. Maholm is really inconsistent and got ripped by the Mets for 7 runs in 5 innings on May 9 at Citi Field. The Mets have lost three of the last four games that Redding started. With Oliver Perez and John Maine coming off the disabled list this month likely, Redding needs to pick up his game to stay in the rotation.
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Former Mets closer Johnny Franco called out David Wright and the Mets for lacking leadership from the players. Franco said he’s spoken to Wright about taking a more active role as a leader on the team but it hasn’t worked.
The interview was on Sirius XM Radio and covered the current state of the Mets as well as other topics. But Franco’s comments about the lack of leadership on the team, and Wright specifically are garnering national media attention.
“I tried talking to him and tell him to come forward and be that guy, but I think David feels that being that he’s such a young player and you have the [Carlos] Delgados and [Gary] Sheffields and veteran guys like that, he’s afraid that they’ll look at him like, ‘Be quiet and sit down.'”
Wright told reporters that he’s unconcerned about what anyone outside of the Mets organization says.
“With all due respect to Johnny, he doesn’t know what’s going on in this clubhouse,” Wright said Wednesday, after the Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 to stop a five-game losing streak. “I don’t feel the need to have to defend myself as a leader. If these guys in here respect me and think of me as a leader, that’s what I need.”
“I don’t worry myself about outside people saying what they’re going to say,” Wright said. “It doesn’t matter. What matters to me are these 24 guys in here and the coaching staff. Whatever anybody else wants to say, they can say whatever.”
This isn’t a new line of discussion. Every one of us that listens to sports talk radio in New York has heard this before. I’m a little surprised that Franco would come out publicly with this line of discussion after doing some work for the Mets this spring. I guess he doesn’t plan on doing any further work for them in the future.
My take on this is that if I was a 35 or 40 year old player on the Mets, I wouldn’t necessarily look at Wright as a leader on the team either. Sheffield has 500 home runs and Delgado is knocking on the door. Even Livan Hernandez was a World Series MVP. Beltran is a 4-time All Star, Rookie of the Year, with three Gold Gloves, and two Silver Sluggers. This just isn’t a team that every player is going to look up to Wright at this point in his career.
On a team with a different makeup, I could see Wright being a leader. On a younger team like the Pirates or Rays, I’m sure he would be a leader. But the Mets are a team with some veterans that have serious resumes. Franco should recognize that fact too because he was a veteran with a serious resume at one point himself.
The only run of the game came on a rare RBI by Ryan Church to score Luis Castillo in the sixth inning. The Mets only had 5 hits off Gallardo who was excellent today throwing a wicked late-breaking curveball for much of the game including 12 strikeouts. Not surprisingly, 3 of those K’s were on David Wright.
The Mets break their five game losing streak and head to Pittsburgh for an afternoon make-up game tomorrow.
What to watch: The Mets try to avoid their second consecutive series sweep today. Jerry Manuel required that all players take the team bus from the hotel to Miller Park. No cabs or limos today in Milwaukee. We’ll see if it works against the excellent ace of Milwaukee’s rotation. Gallardo has really only been lit up once this season, and that was on May 20. So Pelfrey better be prepared to hold the Brewers down today. And by the way, the Mets will be doing this without David Wright and Gary Sheffield in the lineup.
Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Live Game Chat during the game to chat with other Mets fans!
The Mets went down in defeat for the fifth straight game. Even with Johan Santana on the mound, the Mets played one of their worst games and suffered one of the most embarrassing losses of the season.
The game looked great in the first inning with David Wright hitting a 2-run homer to get things started. But the Mets imploded in the fourth when Santana walked the Brewers pitcher, Fernando Martinez did a face plant in the outfield on a routine fly ball, and the Mets kicked the ball around the field like little leaguers on a play at the plate. The Brewers took a 5-2 lead and the game was gone.
Santana flipped out in the dugout between innings but he was more to blame than anyone. It was his walk of the pitcher that got things started for the Brewers and his wild error throw to third after the play at home. I don’t know who he was yelling at but he should look at himself in this case.
Martinez ended up hitting his first major league homer in the ninth but it was another ugly loss. Pitching coach Dan Warthen was thrown out of the game for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Jim Wolf. The Mets have had problems with Wolf before this season so I wasn’t surprised to see them getting on him throughout the game.
After the game Jerry Manuel had a 30 minute closed-door meeting with the players. He said afterward that it was a “family meeting” and the purpose was to make sure that they understand that they have what it takes to win. Oddly, he just told reporters days ago that the Mets need to trade for a hitter.
New York Mets (38-39 Road: 16-22) at Pittsburgh Pirates (36-42 Home: 22-16) 12:35 pm
New York Mets (37-39 Road: 15-22) at Milwaukee Brewers (42-35 Home: 22-17) 2:05 pm
The Mets Report 